this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2024
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This is a very entertaining and educational article, giving insights into the methods used by thiefs to try and get access to your phone data.

I don't like Apple but it's great that their security is so good when it comes to this.

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[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 143 points 5 months ago (99 children)

As much as I love my android phone, I have to admit Apple takes privacy and security much more seriously.

[–] themoonisacheese@sh.itjust.works 84 points 5 months ago (65 children)

How so? A Samsung or pixel with default settings would also behave that way, possibly even more securely because it wouldn't show the thieves your number.

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 45 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (59 children)

I guess just anecdotally. I have a pixel 7, I'm pretty confident I could factory reset the device without 3rd party authentication. Also, from the tech channels I follow, I think I could recover my data if I forgot the password. Android has always felt more "free"and customizable, and I love it for that. But I also think that freedom allows for more exploits. It's a trade off that's worth it to me, personally. But if I had illegal shit to hide on my phone, I'd probably do it on an apple device.

Edit: just checked. I can completely bypass all my locked down Google Pixel settings to factory reset my phone pretty easily if I press the right keys in the right order. It would be pretty easy to steal and resell my phone.

[–] Shadow@lemmy.ca 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Same for Samsung afaik. Pop into the bootloader and just wipe everything.

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 11 points 5 months ago

AFAIK you can't wipe the IMEI and if you report it stolen to providers they will block it from using their networks. (It will only be able to use wifi.)

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

If recently upgraded an old Samsung tablet (Tab A6 from 2016) to Lineage OS and not only do you have to remove the Google Account before flashing just the TWRP to be able to just start replacing the actual OS, but there is a configuration flag that can only be changed in the stock OS logged in to that Google Account and with Dev Mode enabled to, after you replace the OS, allow the custom OS to actually work (if you don't do it the device with the custom OS will go into a boot fail loop as soon as you restart it).

It was actually a PITA to do that upgrade of my own device because of that (I had to reinstall the old OS and log in to the old account just to toggle the "Allow OEM install" option after which I could install Lineage OS ... again ... without the device going into a boot fail loop on the first restart)

This is on a Samsung device that's almost 8 years old so it would be a bit strange if they went back on it since, especially as it's in the best interest of Samsung to make it hard for people to upgrade their devices away from the enshittified Samsung software.

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